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CHAPTER-I
INTRODUCTION
Meaning of Promotion
Communication plays an important role in marketing. Communication perform the function
of informing the target customer about the nature and type of the firm's product and services,
their unique benefits, uses and features as well as the price and place at which these products
can be purchased. The nature of marketing communication is persuasive since it aims at
influencing the consumer behavior in favor of the firm's offering. These persuasive
communications are commonly called "Promotion". In the context of marketing promotion
refers to the applied communication used by marketers to exchange persuasive messages and
information between the firm and its various prospective customers and general public.

Marketing communication is the essential element of the promotion function of marketing.
Effective marketing depends on effective management of its promotion function. Effective
promotion comes through effective communication. Success of products like hot-shot
camera, Maggie 2 minute noodles, Khaitan fans, and UTI's ULIP scheme are purely depend
on the promotion function played by the respective marketing firms.
With the growing competition in the market place as well as the customers becoming better
informed and more choosy, it is important now that marketing communications of the right
kind only are made to the right group of target buyers.

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Purpose of Promotion:
Communicating information:
The job of marketing is to identify consumer wants and then satisfy these wants with the right
kind of products, at the right place and at the right price. The purpose of promotion in the
marketing function is to convey to customers about the features of the product and how it will
satisfy consumer wants or any other relevant information needed by consumers to affect
sales. For example, if a refrigerator manufacturer is planning to offer off-season discount, it
is essential to communicate to potential customers about the extent of discount, period during
which discount is available, name of the stores where it is available etc. If all such
information is not communicated to potential customers, lowering of prices will not be
beneficial to either the consumer or the manufacturer.

Promotion is persuasive Communication:
In any free enterprise system where firms develop and offer a wide range of new and better
products, there are full of messages and distractions of all sorts. Consumer often has to
select the products from among a wise range of competing products. As consumers do not
have time and energy to compare the competing products physically, they turn to
advertisements for product information. The present business environment being highly
competitive, each firm wants the customers to buy its brand. Thus, persuasion is another goal
of promotion. In other words, promotion is persuasive communication.

Promotion serves as a reminder:
Consider a customer who regularly buys Colgate Toothpaste or Lux Soap. Do marketers of
Colgate Toothpaste or Lux Soap advertise to appeal to such customers. The answer is yes,
because even the most loyal customers must be reminded that t product has served them well
over the years and about the features that make the product attractive. This is more so in an
environment where competitors consistently attempt to attract the customers of competing
brands with their own informative and persuasive message. Thus, in addition to informing
and persuading, another important purpose of promotion is reminding customers. This is
why even when the manufactures of well established products like Colgate, Lux, Surf,
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Nescafe, Lifebuoy etc. also advertise quite extensively to sustain customers preference for
these products.
Increasing Customer Traffic
Some promotions are used to generate more customer traffic. For example, fast food
restaurants often feature certain meals at reduced prices. These meals may be advertised in
commercials to drive people into the fast food restaurants for lunch or dinner. Businesses
may also reward regular customers with frequency card or loyalty programs. These
promotions are designed to increase customer visits by rewarding them according to their
expenditures. For example, a barber shop may offer customers a free haircut on the seventh
visit. A company typically earns a large percentage of its sales from repeat business.
Building Brand Awareness
Small companies usually implement promotional strategies to increase brand awareness.
Brand awareness is the percentage of people who recognize a brand from a specific company,
according to marketing expert Dave Dolak. It is a metric that is relative to other competitive
companies. In other words, companies strive to build brand awareness so their products are
chosen over other brands. Brand awareness usually increases over time through repeat
advertising and other key promotions.
Increasing Sales and Profits
Companies primarily promote their products to drive sales and profits. They may use product
sales, coupons and "bogo" or buy-one/get one free offers to increase sales short-term. But
they will need to emphasize product quality and customer service in their messages to
increase long-term sales and profits. Businesses usually have specific attributes or core
competencies that set themselves apart from competitors. To be successful, the images
marketers wish to portray must be commensurate with actual company operation





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Types of Promotion
1.Personal Selling:
Involved personal contact between company rep and those who make purchase decisions (e.g.
consumers, manager or company buyer). Selling occurs face-to-face or via telephone and also
now online via video conferencing or text chat.
Advantage: In personal selling a very large advantage is that the salesperson or company rep
can change and/or adjust the message their promoting or pitch their attempting to sell as they
gain feedback from consumers. In the event that a consumer doesn't fully understand the
Original message, the salesperson can respond differently in order to address any of the
questions.
Disadvantage: In personal selling its advantage can also be its biggest disadvantage. Many
people have had bad experiences with salespeople who didn't match the personality that
would affect their customers the best. Some sales rep's could be overly aggressive or had
a tendency to be annoying or repetitive.

2.Direct Marketing:
Involves sending mail direct to the customer, Direct mail can be cheaper than traditional
advertising; you can tailor your message, add more information and better target your
market.Typically Direct mail advertising should be; personal, creative, informal and
selectively directed (not sent to everyone in a database).
Advantage: An advantage to direct marketing is that it is very quick and easy to produce. A
company can prepare and mail a small promotion within days or weeks. Direct mail would be
an effective method of testing new products and prices, seeking response from customers,
while still maintaining control over which customers receive their promotion.included in the
promotion.
Disadvantage: A very large disadvantage to direct marketing revolves around the term "Junk
mail". A large number of consumers become annoyed by the constant influx of direct
marketing to their mailbox. By using direct mail, a company risks causing the customers it
seeks to gain to become hostile or unsympathetic to their cause and disregard their
promotion.



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3.Advertising:
Non personal, mostly paid promotions often using mass media to deliver the message. The
variations of advertising include; TV, Newspaper, Magazine, Internet and
Outdoor advertising (E.g. billboard, posters, buses, etc.)
Advantage: A large advantage to advertising is that it alerts a large populous of consumers
of the products that may or may not satisfy what the consumers is looking for and by doing
soincreases the customer traffic and allows a company to quickly determine who their
target.market..is..and..what..their..looking..for..in..their..product.
Disadvantage: Advertising to some customers can be intrusive or invasive and its
effectiveness may have less of an effect depending on the market the company is selling in. If
the market is already flooded with several other companies that are all using advertising as
their promotion, customers may or may not notice your company due to the large amount of
competition.
4.Public Relations:
This type of promotion uses third-party sources and particularly the news media, to offer
a favorable mention of the marketer's company or product without direct
payment..to..the..publisher..of..the..information.
Advantage: An advantage to using public relations as a form of promotion is that a well-
structured campaign done by a large third-party source can result in the target market being
exposed to a wealth of information that they may not receive from other forms of promotion.
Disadvantage: A disadvantage to public relations is that the impact of traditional news has
lost a great deal of hold over the public and due to this the audience companies had intended
to be reached by their promotion may never see the media coverage.

5.Sponsorship:
Supporting an event, activity or organization by providing money or other resources that is of
value to the sponsored event. This is usually in return for advertising space at the event or as
apart of the publicity for the event. (E.g. TV/ Radio, Sports, Arts, Events,..Charity/Causes.)
Advantage: An advantage to sponsorship is the chance of getting free publicity in the form
of other types of promotion, for example should their be an event involving live broadcasting
where a company has sponsored a sport or charity their product name would show up on the
broadcast..to..a..wider..audience..than..originally..intended.
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Disadvantage: A disadvantage to sponsorship is the pricing involved can become
tremendously expensive in relation to other forms of promotion such as advertising and not
reach the same amount of a companies target audience. For example if the sponsored
individuals loose or were to have something happen to them to cause the public to disprove of
them and your brand image were to be seen on them could cause negative publicity to be
spread to your company.

6.Sales Promotion:
Involves the use of special short-term techniques, often in the form of incentives, to
encourage customers to respond or undertake some activity. (E.g. Sales flyers/ price
discounts, Coupons, Samples/giveaways, special events and point of sale)
Advantage: As sales promotions are often mostly announced to only last for short periods,
customers may feel the need to disregard alternative brand's and are persuaded to act
quickly..in..the..purchasing..of..a..product..rather..than..later.
Disadvantage: A common occurrence for companies is the increase in price sensitivity in its
customers if a large amount of price discounts or coupons are introduced. Often customers
will wait for the promotional deals to be announced and then purchase the product, causing
the profit margin of the company to decrease because of the 'discounts' being offered during
sale-season.

7.Digital Communications:
Any promotion made for web, cell phone or digital device (E.g. tablets, game systems etc.)
These include; Online advertising, mobile communications, advergaming, social media,
consumer-generated..content..and..viral..strategies.
Advantage: The use of digital communication is very inexpensive as their are very little
materials used in the creation of digital advertisement. The amount of employee's required to
create the promotion is dramatically decreased and overall the promotion type is very cost
efficient..and..easy..to..effect..a..large..populous.
Disadvantage: The sending of fake promotions to consumers has caused a mistrust in this
form of promotion. Due to the malicious content generally associated with digital
communication many consumers become wary of this type of promotion and due to this the
audience intended to be effected by a companies promotions may fall short.

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8.Internet Promotion
The development of the World Wide Web has changed the business environment forever. Dot
com fever has taken the industry and stock markets by storm. The e-commerce revolution
promises to deliver a more efficient way of conducting business. Shoppers can now purchase
from the comfort of their home 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
Owning a website is a now a crucial ingredient to the marketing mix strategy of an
organization. Consumers can obtain instant information on products or services to aid them in
their crucial purchase decision. Sony Japan took pre-orders of their popular Play station 2
consoles over the net, which topped 1 million after a few days, European football stars are
issue press releases through the internet and have websites registered under their names. Hit
rates are phenomenal.
Advertisers have now moved their money over to the internet as customers are on average
spending more time online then watching TV. Popular ways to advertise seem to be with
banner adverts and pop ups.
9.Online Promotions
One of the most effective ways for you to promote a business is to use an online promotion
strategy. With this type of strategy, you can reach a massive audience or focus in on a
specific group of people to market to. You could choose to display advertising on related
websites or send out emails to market to your target market. You might even consider using
pay-per-click marketing, which is a strategy that allows you to pay only when someone clicks
on an ad and visits your website.
10. Push Marketing
One of the promotional strategies that you can use is a push marketing strategy. With this
type of strategy, you aim to push your products out into the marketplace through promotions
and sales. You have to use a talented sales force to show your products to customers and then
sell the product. This type of marketing is generally used for products that people do not
know about but could have some use for if they were to become aware of them.


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11.Pull Marketing
Another type of promotional strategy that you could use is called pull marketing. With this
type of promotional strategy, you try to generate interest in your products. With this strategy,
you will create enough interest that consumers will ask specifically for your products in
stores. When this happens, you can create word-of-mouth advertising for your products. With
this strategy, it might take a large budget for marketing to get the process started. Then, once
you get a reputation developed, you can generally bring in regular sales without spending as
much on advertising.








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Promotion Through The Product Life Cycle
As products move through the four stages of the product lifecycle different promotional
strategies should be employed at these stages to ensure the healthy success and life of the
product. Stages and promotion strategies employed are as follows:
Introduction: When a product is new the organisation's objective will be to inform the target
audience of its entry. Television, radio, magazine, coupons etc may be used to push the
product through the introduction stage of the lifecycle. Push and Pull Strategies will be used
at this crucial stage.
Growth: As the product becomes accepted by the target market (at this stage of the lifecycle)
the organisation will employ strategy to increase brand awareness and customer loyalty.
Maturity: At this stage of the lifecycle the product will be experiencing increased
competition and will need persuasive tactics to encourage consumers to choose their product
over their rivals. Any differential advantage/benefit will be need to be clearly communicated
to the target audience.
Decline: As the product reaches the decline stage of its life cycle, all the organisation can do
is use strategy to remind consumers about the product in a bid to slow the inevitable.



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Steps Involved In Developing Promotional Strategy
1. Setting The Promotional Objectives: Changes in sales and market share are often used as
promotional objectives, but they are a function of the entire marketing programnot just the
promotional mix. An exception is where the promotion requires an immediate response, such
as direct-mail advertising, coupons, and catalogues. Acceptable promotional objectives
follow from the situation analysis and involve four key components: a statement defining the
target audience, a statement of how some aspect(s) of the audience's perceptions, attitudes, or
behavior should change, a statement of how fast such a change should occur, and a statement
as to the degree of change desired. One possible promotion objective for the BMW 1994
promotion program would involve generating awareness of BMW's new models, their price,
and the company's superb engineering among members of the target audiences.
2. Designing The Message: Preparing a successful message is difficultif only because of
the countless ways in which it can be constructed. Yet the payouts from good messages are
substantial. For example, simple changes in the wording of a print ad have been known to
generate a substantial increase in sales for retail stores, mail-order houses, and direct-mail
sellers. All marketing communications involve some degree of information and persuasion.
Each message, for example, involves a sponsor or a brand name, which is basically
informative. And each message directly or indirectly advocates some change by the
audience, which is basically persuasive.
3. Selecting The Communication Channels: Channel selection is a three-step process. First,
marketers decide which promotion components to use: advertising, personal selling, sales
promotion, or publicity. Second, they choose the specific activities within each component. In
advertising, this involves considering such media as TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, or
billboards. A consumer sales promotion could consist of coupons, free samples, or premiums.
Third, within each activity they must decide which specific vehicle to employ; for example,
in advertising, this requires selecting a TV or radio program, while in sales promotion, they
must decide about the coupon specificsits value, size and color, message format, and how
it will be delivered.

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4. Preparing The Promotion Budget: There are a number of ways to prepare the promotion
budget, most of which work from the top down (i.e., managers first determine the total
amount to be budgeted and then allocate various amounts to the different mix components).
These budget-setting methods are discussed briefly below.
The percentage of sales method is the one most commonly used. The procedure consists of
setting this year's budget as a percentage of this year's anticipated sales. Under this approach,
sales determine the promotional activity versus planning to achieve some desired sales
objective. Even though illogical, this method has some advantages. It is simple to calculate
and is risk-adverse because spending is linked to sales.
The affordable method of budgeting is based on the premise that all necessary expenditures,
such as production costs, personnel costs, and so forth, come first, and promotion receives
what is left over. Thus, in good years, the firm would commit large amounts to promotion,
while in bad years spend little or nothing. Of all methods considered here, the affordable
method holds the least potential for making sound promotional decisions.
The competitive parity method sets the level of promotional spending equal to the firm's
market share or larger if an attempt is being made to increase share. Thus, if the firm's market
share is 20 percent, then its budget would be 20 percent of the total amount spent by the
industry on promoting a given product-market entry. This method of budgeting tends to
create stability in market shares among competitors and has the advantage of considering
competition. Share-of-market budgeting is often used in connection with new products where
the rule of thumb is to spend one and a half times the share objective at the end of the first or
second year.
5. Choosing The Promotion Mix: Designing the promotional mix is complex because
components interact; for example, a consumer sales promotion (a sweepstake) often requires
advertising to inform the public about the promotion. The following factors largely determine
the effectiveness of the mix components: (a) the objectives and resources of the firm, (b) the
type of product involved, (c) the stage of the product life cycle, (d) market characteristics,
and (e) other elements in the marketing mix.


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Important Factors That Affect Promotion Mix
There is no perfect promotion mix. Everyone has to devise a mix depending upon the
situation. It has to be tailor-made depending upon the characteristics of the situation.
1. Push and Pull Strategies:
The purpose of promotion is to motivate and persuade not only the ultimate consumers, but
also to the intermediaries who are available involved in making available goods finally to
consumers.
If the strategy adopted is to motivate and persuade the intermediaries to make effort to
increase the sales the strategy is called push strategy. It of personal selling along with
advertising and other trade promotional measures. The-manufacturer promotes goods to
wholesalers, wholesalers in turn promote to the retailers and retailers persuading the
consumers to buy.
On the other hand, if the customer demands particular goods from the retailer and the retailers
want the same from the wholesalers and the wholesalers in turn asking the manufacturers to
provide that kind of goods. Thus here it is the customer to wholesaler who is pulling the cord.
The advertising by the manufacturer may persuade the consumer to ask for the goods to their
retailers. Retailers in turn will ask the wholesalers and the wholesalers to manufacturer. The
marketing manager will have to decide whether to use push or pull strategy.
Customer-targeted marketing communications are pull type of communications. The
objectives of pull marketing communication are to build awareness, attraction, and loyalty
and to reduce search costs. When pull communications are successful, customers will seek
out certain products or services and, in essence, by the interest they create, and pull the
product through the channel.
On the other hand, push communications are directed at channel intermediaries. The
objective is to motivate channel intermediaries to carry certain products to make available to
customers. If successful, push communication strategies result into a wider range of
availability, fewer stockouts, greater merchandising (shelf space), and a greater marketing
effort. It would have been achieved with little or no push communication. However, to be
more successful, a combination of the two is required.

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2. Product Features:
Use of a particular tool of promotion mix depends upon the type of goods to be marketed. For
industrial products more of personal selling is required. For consumer products like HULs
Axe, more of advertising is required. For highly image- oriented products like fashion
garment the presence of designers or celebrities inside the store is required. For goods where
not much difference is there in features and performance more of sales promotion is required.
Where the organisation is equally important, the public relations become more important. For
seasonal products, off-season sale is very important, but advertising is required for sale round
the year sale. This is why the retailers of full sleeve shirts and sweaters and suits organise sale
in the month of January. For high-priced products, personal selling is important to mitigate
risk. For low convenience goods marketers use advertising rather than personal selling. For
products, where customers do not want to talk with the salesperson like Viagra, condom, hair
colour (by a senior citizen) the advertising is more important.
3. Stage of the Product Life Cycle:
In different phases of a product life cycle, different tools of promotion mix become more
effective. In the introductory stage to create awareness among the customers including
business customers and distributors advertising has to be undertaken in a big way. Free
samples may be distributed to the consumers and trade promotion may be undertaken to
motivate distributors to stock the goods.
In the growth stage, the consumers have already heard of the product. Promotion has to be
directed at specifying product benefits. Advertising increases whereas sales promotion
declines. During the maturity stage, the emphasis will be on switching the customers from
competitors and hence more of sales promotion is used. In the decline stage the firm will be
more interested in harvesting revenue as much as possible. There will be a great decrease in
expenditure on promotion.
4. Buyer Readiness:
If the customer is unaware of the product, advertising and public relations are more
important, but when he is in the marketplace sales promotion and personal selling are more
important to make a decision.

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5. Type of Buyer:
Buyers can be of different types and promotion mix has to be devised accordingly. In case of
Organisational or business buyers, ads published in specialised trade publications and
personal selling are more important; whereas, consumers are swayed by glossy
advertisements endorsed by some celebrities.
6. Type of Distribution:
For intensive distributable goods, more advertising is done and also the help of sales
promotion is taken. For goods sold through selective distribution, the promotion mix would
vary, and for exclusive distribution like Rado watch, high- quality furniture, it needs more of
personal selling.
7. Objectives, Budget, Cost and Availability of Media:
Firms promotional objectives are the reflections of overall marketing objectives. If the
objective is to make mass awareness, the firm may go in for advertising, sales promotion and
public relation. Most of the food companies, like Nestle, HUL, PepsiCo not only go in for
aggressive ad campaigning, but also distribute free samples and go in for public relations
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CHAPTER-II: MARKET ANALYSIS I
FLIPKART
Flipkart went live in 2007 with the objective of making books easily available to anyone who
had internet access. Today, they're present across various categories including movies, music,
games, mobiles, cameras, computers, healthcare and personal products, home appliances and
electronics, stationery, perfumes, toys, apparels, shoes and still counting! Be it their path-
breaking services like Cash on Delivery, a 30-day replacement policy, EMI options, free
shipping - and of course the great prices that they offer, everything they do revolves around
their obsession with providing their customers a memorable online shopping experience.
Then there's their dedicated Flipkart delivery partners who work round the clock to
personally make sure the packages reach on time.
So it's no surprise that they're a favorite online shopping destination.
One of the biggest names in the Online Retail Industry and a Leading e-Commerce player in
the Country; Founded by Sachin Bansal & Binny Bansal in Bangalore, Karnataka in 2007.
Which was Started with initial capital of INR 4 lakh contributed by the founders, 7
warehouses, offices and delivery centers across India. With over 17.5 million book titles
listed, 16 different categories, more than 4 million registered users and sale of 55000 items a
day their operations are simply huge. Had 8600+ employees till December 2013. Had a
massive Revenue of around 1200 Crores (Fy 2012-13) and plans to reach 2500 Crores this
year.
Flipkart was established in 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, both alumni of the
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. They worked for Amazon.com before quitting and
founding their own company. Initially they used word of mouth marketing to popularize their
company. A few months later, the company sold its first book on flipkart.com - John Woods
Leaving Microsoft to Change the World. Flipkart broke even in March 2010 and claims to
have had at least 100% growth every quarter since its founding.

The store started with selling
books and in 2010 branched out to selling CDs, DVDs, mobile phones & accessories,
cameras, computers, computer accessories and peripherals, pens & office supplies, other
electronic items such as home appliances, kitchen appliances, personal care gadgets, health
care products etc.
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Today, as per Alexa traffic rankings, Flipkart on rank 170 on Alexa and 6 on Google
Rankings is among the top 10 Indian web sites and has been credited with being India's
largest online bookseller with over 17 million titles on offer.
Initially Flipkart was funded by the Bansals themselves with 4 Lakhs(INR). Flipkart has
since then raised two rounds of funding from venture capital funds - Accel India (in 2009)
and Tiger Global Management (up to the tune of US$10 million) (in 2010). Private equity
firms Carlyle and General Atlantic are in talks to jointly invest about $150 million to $200
million in Flipkart, according to sources. On October 10, 2013 barely three months
after Flipkart.com raised $200 million, the online retailer received another large fund infusion
of $160 million (around Rs.990 crore), most of it coming from new investors.
1

Flipkart has made a series of Acquisitions. If we see them in a chronological order - 2010:
weREAD, a social book discovery tool. The goal was to give Flipkart a social
recommendation platform for buyers to make informed decisions based on recommendations
from people within their social network, 2011: Mime360, a digital content platform company,
2011: Chakpak.com is a Bollywood news site that offers updates, news, photos and videos.
Flipkart acquired the rights to Chakpaks digital catalogue which includes 40,000
filmographies, 10,000 movies and close to 50,000 ratings. Flipkart has categorically said that
it will not be involved with the original site and will not use the brand name. 2012:
Letsbuy.com is India's second largest e-retailer in electronics. Flipkart has bought the
company for an estimated US$ 25 million.
The process of attracting a prospective customer to view the site and try to make sure he/she
purchases the goods is called the Order Lifecycle. Attract users to the site through Family,
Friends, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, Word of Mouth, Brand
Building, etc. Provide selection to the consumer by making it easy to Find & Discover
products. Provide details to evaluate a product like Description, Specifications, and User
Generated Content and perhaps the most important aspect Price well. Have to be competitive
to the most obvious options. Provide convenient payment options Online, like credit card, net
banking, debit card, wire transfer, phone banking and Cash On Delivery. Confirm payment.
Get the item Procure from Supplier Just-in-time a good Supplier selection team is essential.
Keep Inventory -Inventory Prediction, Planning. Quality Checks - Clean & Check for sanity,



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Pages missing, MRP printed lesser than told to you. Pack the Item - Tamper proof, weather
proof, breakage proof. Select courier & hand-over Courier performances vary across regions
a lot. Get tracking id & communicate to customer. Follow-up for timely delivery. Take care
of returns - faulty product/user changes their mind. Minimize returns.
When we see the heights Flipkart has managed to reach we think What went right for this
site to get such a response..?-
The first and foremost was that we Indians were discarding our stone-age ways and beginning
to shop online. Another thing; the two entrepreneurs, Sachin and Binny Bansal, did right was
that they started off with books a low capital investment and a fast turn-around time. But
the best thing they did was that they understood that to be successful in India, you need to be
the God of Distribution. In India, its amazing Logistics that prove to be the game-changer and
thats exactly what the folks at Flipkart have done.
Table 1 - Strength Weakness Oppourtunity Threat(SWOT) Analysis
SWOT HELPFUL HARMFUL

INTERNAL
FACTORS
Strengths
Brand
Supply Chain Management
Quick Turnaround Time
Advertisement And Promotion
Strategic Acquisitions
Huge Reach
Weaknesses
Delivery
Internet Penetration
Payment Gateways
Higher Costs

EXTERNAL
FACTORS
Opportunities
Growth In E-Tail
Growth In E-Book Culture
Broadband Penetration
Mobile Apps
Threats
New Players Such As Amazon

Next we need to see the Challenges Faced By Flipkart -
Initially when they started out, it wasnt easy for them to earn the trust of the customer.
Handling customer complaints, without having a face to their customer service proves to be
bit of a challenge at times. Not having the display advantage, the browsing feature and not
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being able to carry out promotional activities are some other obvious challenges. The
discomfort of paying by cards, on account of security issues is another challenge. They had
tried to address that by introducing the cash-on-delivery option. The fact that highest
number of orders and sales get registered during weekends proves to be tough at times for
logistics and customer service. The fact that they have to work 24/7 and the customer
perceptions around it also bring some difficulty. For example, the customer places an order at
12 am and counts the number of hours for delivery right from then!
What made them stand out from all those people out there? -
The procurement model is at the heart of Flipkarts success, as most delays or troubles occur
in this part of business. Flipkart employed consignment model i.e. procurement based on
demand. It is the robust logistics at Flipkart that sets it apart from other e-commerce sites.
An amazingly well-oiled warehousing and delivery system. They offer a huge range of titles
more than 17 million which really sets them apart from the rest of the crowd.
Marketing Strategies which worked to their benefit
Table 2 - Customer Oriented Model Of Flipkart.com
MARKETING MIX
Cost
Heavy discounts on books
Free shipping for purchases above Rs. 500
Consumer
Availability of products across 16 categories
Books can be ordered before they are
launched
Pan India presence
Communication
Advertisements via Search Engine
Optimization
Transparent Communication
Once the customer places an order, progress
can be tracked
Convenience
Ease of finding the product and related
information
Purchase at the click of a button
Cash/ Card on Delivery
Flipkart has been mostly marketed by word of mouth advertising. Customer satisfaction has
been their best marketing medium. Flipkart very wisely used SEO (Search Engine
Optimization) and Google Ad-words as the marketing tools to have a far reach in the online
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world. Flipkart.com official Facebook page has close to 19 lac 'likes'. Flipkart recently
launched a series of 3 ads with the tag line - "No Kidding No worries". Kids were used to
create the adverts to send out the message - if a kid can do it, you can also do it. All in all to
create a great customer experience.










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PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES OF FLIPKART
Overall Strategy
Customer service is where the core focus of Flipkart lies. Flipkart knows that as customer
service.
And be it offline or online, people gush about its lightning speed delivery. So much so that
Flipkart has gone ahead and created a Look What Flipkart Delivered Storify page mentioning
all the instances where its delivery made made the customers happy.
And its one of the few Indian brands which is actively using Google Plus!!

PROMOTION PLAN
1) TELEVISION ADVERTISEMENTS (TVCs):
Flipkart.com, one of Indias largest e-commerce companies, recently kicked off their new
ad campaign No Kidding, No Worries. The TVCs, showcasing Flipkart as the online
megastore, were launched on August 31, 2011. The campaign mainly addresses some long-
held concerns associated with online shopping. The three commercials being aired each
highlight a benefit that customers can avail while shopping on flipkart.com- Cash on
delivery, 30-day replacement guarantee, and original products with original
warranty to make the online shopping experience hassle-free. The ads also display the
entire gamut of new product categories such as cameras, mobile phones, and tablets that are
now available on the site. The 360-degree campaign will run simultaneously on TV, print,
outdoor, and radio for a period of three months, beginning this month. The motive of the
campaign was to address the fears people generally tend to have with online shopping and to
create the ever-important aspect of trust. The task in the second campaign was two-pronged -
to address consumer apprehensions around online shopping by featuring Flipkart's path-
breaking services and to feature the new categories that the retailer now offers beyond books.
Keeping this in mind, Happy Creative, led by Kartik Iyer and Praveen Das, came up with the
idea of designing a campaign that featured kids in grown-up situations.
So, how did the idea for the TVC come about? The job was pretty single-minded; wehad to
build trust. Hence, we chose kids. But we were very clear that we needed something clutter-
breaking. So we twisted the treatment a little to make it more interesting, he adds. Its a
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national campaign on TV and print. Other mediums like OOH and radio will be used to
expand the reach in markets such as Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore that already have high e-
commerce penetration. The ads for print, OOH, and radio have already been planned. They
are already in the process of roll-out.
ARNAB GOSWAMI Ads:
Flipkart's tongue-in-cheek ad campaign sends out a clear brand message even in the midst of
having some fun at the expense of our newsmakers Times Now, apart from a few well-
known television personalities including Suhel Seth and politicians A Raja, Brinda Karat and
Lalu Prasad Yadav, surely succeeds in tickling the funny bone. Kudos to the children,
especially the little boy who impersonates Goswami as he is able to bring to life the
personality traits of the news anchor. Right from his hair style to the way he holds his pen to
the way he intones, the child is a perfect imitator of Goswami. The other children too add the
right flavourbe it the kid imitating the colourful Suhel Seth or the girl playing politician
Brinda Karat. Though at times the characters are a bit boisterous in their performance, it is
this spirited behaviour of the children that lends a comic touch to the entire commercial.
In fact, it is this over-the-top impersonation that makes the ad films entertaining. Whats
more, even as the ad films continue to poke fun at these personalities, it is able to clearly
deliver the brand message that Flipkart is the most preferred online shopping portal. The
tongue-in-cheek ads are rightly nuanced thus making them watchable as well as enjoyable for
viewers. The ad films definitely bring back Flipkart into the race once again.




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2) DIGITAL SOCIAL MEDIA PLAN:

Facebook
A simple Facebook page with friendly communication tonality. The content primarily
revolves around latest festivals/birthdays, Q&A updates and self-promotional posts.
However, the lack of any interesting content has lead to a relatively low engagement rate for
the page that has more than 1.2 million people in its community. Customer service is again at
focus here. The team handling the page tries to resolve every complaint that is posted on their
timeline asap. Theres also a well laid out Custom Tab just for Support. Its a helpful tab
where customers can come and mention their grievances, share ideas and affirm their love for
Flipkart. And it is fairly active indeed. But one special mention goes to the team behind their
cover photos. Every time theres something a celebrate, it is reflected in their cover photos.
From birthdays, to seasons to festivals, they have a brilliant creative team that comes up with
some of the best cover photos on Facebook.
Twitter
Facebook may be a little downer for Flipkart but their Twitter team is doing some kickass
work. Thanks to some brilliant informal (and friendly) communication, they have managed to
woo a lot of people.
Amongst the ecommerce sector, they probably have the largest Twitter community; and a lot
many of them are influencers! The updates are somewhat similar to Facebook but the real
crux lies in how it responds to users. Not only do they respond and resolve customer issues,
they also enter into casual chit-chat with their followers. How many brands even do that? I
cant think of many!
YouTube
Again a place where TVCs are stored. But since the TVCs are damn interesting, no
complaints.
Google Plus
Moderately active on Google Plus, Flipkart updates it once a while its self-promotional.
Though it still boasts of a community with more than 12k people.
Considering how fickle the Google Plus users are, the updates get a decent response
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Comparison with Competitors
HomeShop18 has to be the most formidable competitor to Flipkart as they both sell almost
similar set of products. Both of them have the largest and the widest range of inventory in the
Indian Ecommerce scene.
Though HomeShop18 has a smaller community as compared to Flipkart, it is doing a good
job at keeping them engaged with a healthy mix of interesting and self-promotional content.
Even the self-promotional updates are mostly discount offers which usually get a
good..response..from..users.

Comment on Strategy
Flip karts emphasis on customer service and quick delivery reflects strongly in its online
communication. The ideation of Flip kart Man shows how seriously it takes delivery.

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The friendly, youthful communication also adds to the customers delight.
Feedback on Strategy
When you have such a strong focus on quality, you are bound to end up with happy
customers. And not only just happy, you have a legion of followers who are loyal to you and
stick with you even when others are undercutting prices and selling products at much cheaper
rates.


Kudos to team Flipkart for being so awesome offline, resulting in a positive online image.
Now if only I could see Flipkart working on engaging more with its community, especially
the one on Facebook.
What makes Flip kart a super successful ecommerce ecommerce portal?
First Mover Advantage: Flipkart still enjoys the top-of-the-mind brand recall as far as
buying books is concerned. Other portals such as Uread and Dial-a-Book are still struggling
to register their brands into the consumers mind. Over the years, Flipkart has diversified
quickly; they now sell electronics to mobiles to home appliances.
Cash on Delivery: One area where Flipkart has scored strong is reading the virtual Indian
consumer mind. Though the ecommerce user has matured, a large segment is still hesitant to
make transactions using credit/debit card. The cash-on-delivery model has undoubtedly got
them with going with the web conservatives.
Well-Marketed: It initially started with word of mouth and social media, and the Bansals
have carried on the momentum well. Apart from investing in technical, operational and
logistical capabilities, Flipkart, like any other strong brand, have invested a lions share in
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advertising, thus giving the brand a significant visibility. Today, Facebook likes stand close
to 1 million.

Easy to Buy: Again, Flipkart has understood the factors that dissuade an online user in India,
by allowing them to buy products without registering. Alternatively, theres Facebook and
Twitter sign-in. This makes its user to buy a product without registering and remembering
another online password. Moreover, you get a 15-20% discount on every book purchase, and
free shipping for every order of more than Rs. 200. I can tell from my own experience that
the delivery is superfast if the product is in stock.

E-commerce in the DNA: A critical factor in Flipkarts success, especially during the initial
years, is that the founders are ex-Amazon employees, hence bringing in the required expertise
and skillset needed to run and grow an ecommerce portal. Sure they possess great
entrepreneurial skills too, which when blended with vertical knowledge, has spun great
success for the 5 year old Flipkart.

Where Flipkart must catch up, quick?
Having heaped praise on Flipkart, there are a few less-critical areas where Flipkart would
need to tighten the noose as the ecommerce industry in India gains traction like a better user
interface, better logistical support for electronic goods, innovation (taking cue from Amazon-
innovated Kindle), scalability, and most of all profitability.
What Lesson Flipkart.com taught to the Indian market?
The message is very clear to make people more comfortable with Flipkart.com, to generate a
great customer relationship and loyalty on the basis of great product prices and excellent
customer service. All in all to create a great customer experienceThe above facts clearly
states that Flipkart.com has brought in an array digital and online marketing strategies to
succeed and make it big in the digital marketing sector and it can be clearly stated that with
their huge success they have very little competitor in the online marketing sector and it can be
easily said that they are most likely to enjoy the bulk of the market share for some time to
come as they are bringing in new insights into the digital marketing field.


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CHAPTER-III
CONCLUSION
Flipkart.com case and the facts and figures shows that it had hesitancy in starting up their
online store and at the beginning had targeted the safer market the Indian book market where
there are lot off ardent readers. But with the success of the book segment they started to
explore on various other segments in the Indian market. Some of which were telecom. IT,
mobile, clothes etc. In order to succeed in the tech savvy youth target audience in order to
survive one needs to have constant innovative thinking and flipkart used that with its
innovating cash on delivery which prompted the conventional customers to inspect the
product on hand and then pay the price which was a huge initiative by Flipkart and proved to
be vastly successful and which shows in Flipkart revenue of nearly criossed 500 Cr in 2012-
13 .The case study clearly shows that if one has innovative strategy than making it big in the
online stores segment will become easy. Flipkart with its innovative digital marketing
have created a niche market in itself.